Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Revolution Calling

Here's something I should have posted about a long time ago—before the Hell Stallion, even. John Pang wrote about it on the ever-excellent Pijin blog way back in May, jeff brought it up in yesterday's comments, and I'm just getting to it now. For shame. I present to you the UnKnown (UK) BikeCo Revolution:

Here's what I can gather about the frame:

It's lower than a Fly Tierra, which means you can use your seat as an e-brake/lock.

It will retail for £269.99, which is roughly $540US.

It's made from heat-treated chromoly.

It has a lifetime warranty.

It has what looks suspiciously like a Superstar internal clamp.

The initial production run will be 200 frames (up from the original 100 due to demand).

It doesn't have any crazy holes drilled in it.

It weighs 3.5 pounds.

Yes, 3.5 pounds. Which is only a half-pound more than an old Solid fork, and means it will cost roughly 71 pounds an, um, pound (roughly the same as Kobe beef). I'm guessing the tubes are translucent.

In the little writeup he did upon seeing the frame, Pang said "My first impression of the frame was that it's just too light and the tubing on the rear triangle looks way too skinny." I would tend to agree with that assessment.

But he goes on to say that, since it's a signature frame of a tailwhip-happy shredder (Kane Hennessy) it should be fine for anyone. That's a leap I'm not ready to take. Ditto this well-intentioned statement: "They are putting a lifetime guarantee on the frame so it must be solid!" Maybe. Maybe not.

One has to wonder how some virtually (and literally) unknown bike company in the UK managed to produce a frame that's so absurdly light? I can't find anything online, but I seem to recall there was something in the new Ride UK as well as Ride US that referred to top secret heat-treating methods that could not be revealed under penalty of death. I guess that's fine—Odyssey doesn't seem to be in any rush to explain the 41Thermal process.

But when a little company puts out a frame that's somewhat comparable to the Tierra in dimensions yet weighs a FULL POUND (Fly lists it at 4.65 pounds) less, I can't help but think, where the heck is all that weight loss coming from? It ain't just the seatpost clamp. I think the Revolution weighs less than the Killorado, for God's sake.

Who knows, the Revolution might hold up fine, ushering in a whole new era in BMX history where four-pound frames are seen as heavy and outdated.

But I doubt it.

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Also from the Pijin blog, I haven't posted one of these shots in a while:

Running plastic pedals is fine. If you're weighing them, you may need to admit you have a problem.

Rode One the other day and i will say it is very nice! However if you sat down you are more likly to sit on the pedal ! And it is also possible to hit the seat with the cranks if there are no spacers or the sprocket is chunky.

those are the skills that get signature frames these days? yep. in a time when most of the up start kids are more concerned with how much their bike weighs, having the latest limited edition plastic pedal color, talking smack on the internet and telling other people how "gay" they are all it really takes is a decent turn down over a hip to get noticed at your local park. combine that with the fact that every local scene has someone that's starting his own company and you're gonna get signature parts for people that no one outside of that hometown gives two shits about. moderate skill? yes...deserves endorsement? not in my opinion. but what the hell do i know about BMX, huh?

This price thing doesn't really compare exactly like that, everything in the UK costs more due to taxes and exchange rates. For example, a Fit Hawk frame in the UK, £215 or $428:http://www.alansbmx.com/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=4495

In the US, $289.95 or £145:http://empirebmx.com/catalog/showdetail2.aspx?id=1093102&ret=catalog.aspx

Hey Russ, glad you like the PijinBlog. It's cool knowing people are lurking there.

Just to clarify, I think what John may have been getting at when he said it should be fine for people is that a lot of the local riders at Southampton tend to be park dudes, which is the sort of riding Kane Hennessey does (Incidentally, rode with Kane at the latest P5 jams and the kid's ridiculously good). He's been riding that proto frame for a while, so for nibbly park stuff I reckon it might actually be alright. I wouldn't really want to be sending it down double-figure stair sets, but I'm pretty sure UKBikeCo wouldn't say it was...

bikes are looking more and more like citicats these days. when is someone going to start reviving jad and/or auburn features? imagine that, a frame with a monotube front end and a bolt on rear end. sweet jesus, it could be aluminum in the front and steel in the back. where is my whiskey bottle?

And Mark, thanks for stopping by and throwing in a couple cents. Appreciated. I can believe that, but it's amazing how a lot of people think every frame should be good for every rider, no matter how or what they ride.

Truth. I think the usual BMX company mantra of "We've made it lighter, without making it weaker" probably means that what might have previously been considered pure park frames are now "park/street/dirt", despite not really being suitable for it.

The Shadow Nostra 'PC' pedals were purely 'cos Eli Platt was in the store, and Carlos wanted to put a comparison up in case people wanted to see it. No-one in Southampton runs them...

i forgot to bring up the fact that the frame was "limited to 100 then upped to 200 because of demand"...isn't the idea of a limited edition to make it something special and not to alter the number because more people want them? could you imagine spending a thousand dollars on a signed and numbered print at an art gallery then finding out that the artist decided to sign a few hundred more because of demand? isn't the limited status what creates the demand? it seems like "limited edition" in BMX means "limited to the number we can sell"

so if i have a print that's signed with "9/100" there may be someone else out there with the same print and the same number? each and every day i find out another way that i'm being scammed by society which brings me, each and every day, one step closer to going Uni-bomber. fuck. (attention any and all Government officials that may be reading this: that Uni-bomber reference was for entertainment purposes only. i have no real intention of blowing up anyone or anything)

this is the greatest blog i have ever read. when it seems like everyone has a blog, yet no one has anything to actually say on them, this one gives me a smile from ear to ear. if this kid holding a 3.5 pound frame is the new bmx, then i think its time for me to start calling what i do on my 2nd batch barcode, complete with solid headset and american bb, something else. maybe i could call it something like... bicycle MOTOCROSS? maybe let the tierra riding, plastic part using, i-look-like-a-teenage-girls-clothing-model crowd take bmx for a few years until they realize throwing yourself over a 30 foot double is way better than going the sped of smell at some 12 stair. but im old and cranky so hey.

Heat treating is just heating a part in an oven to a certain temperature for a certain time and then cooling it at a defined rate. This changes the materials properties. 41thermal and other 'brand names' for these processes are just a marketing gimmick.

Russ if I could just put in a request that you expose the sealed bearing/unsealed bearing pedal scam I'd appreciate it. Bearings cost comparitively nothing sealed or otherwise, so where is the $30 or £30 difference coming from?

3.5 pound bike is something i'd refuse to ride due to concern for my own safety. gimmicks aside, heat treating processes still run off the same basic chemistry, the more you heat treat it, the less the metal bends before it fails. so you end up with a frame that snaps without warning.

and that's too low. i own a tierra, and don't get me wrong i like it a lot, i've ridden it for a year and not even dented it yet, but even the tierra is a bit low for me.

fuck if i ever own a company, i'll make bikes that actually weigh something and that you don't have to be scared of breaking everytime you case. i'll even go out of my way to go against trends hahaha! bring back the good old days...

MISSION STATEMENT

In a world where every new BMX "innovation" is met at best with praise and at worst with a shrug, there needs to be a voice of dissent. SPRFLS is that voice. Make no mistake—we welcome progress, provided it actually IS progress. You are not the width of your handlebars.

Feel free to e-mail suggestions, corrections, tips or death threats to sprfls@gmail.com

Even more pointless (and sometimes entirely un-BMX-related) twittering at http://twitter.com/SPRFLS and http://twitter.com/russbengtson